MIND GAMES! How your Mind can affect your CrossFit Open both GOOD and BAD

Your mind is such an amazing thing, It can make you the most dominant athlete in the history of your sport or it can render you useless on the battlefield.

This morning I just want you to take a moment and think of what type of person you are? Are you fight or flight? When shit gets crazy do you enjoy the chaos or do you like to hide under your covers? There’s no right or wrong answer, there’s also no proving that your natural instinct either way is better. I’ve seen sup aggressive alpha male types get KO’d by smooth operators who keep there calm and move with a methodical approach. I’ve also watched people be totaly overwhelmed by an aggressive fighter. 
The key is knowing and harnessing who you are! Lets look at you on a scale of 1 to 10. 10 being you are super fight mode, the thought of an open workout makes you wanna punch through a wall and 1 being you believe the peaceful will inherit the earth, the thought of the first open workout makes you wanna crawl up in a ball in front of a fireplace. WHere do you lie on this scale? For me a fight doesn’t start tell I get punched in the face! LOL I loev the action, I love the competition and if you throw some disturbed in my earphones Im ready to kill. Coming into a Open workout at a 10 is a recipe for disaster and trust me Ive learned the hard way. 14.1 was 10 min amrap of 30 Doubleunders and 15 Power Snatch at 75 pounds. I was good at dubs and snatches and thought I would rip through 10 mins unbroken, I came in at a level 10 on intensity and ripped out 5 rounds in 5 mins, then everything changed I redlined hard, overpaced and only could get another 2.5 rounds in the remainder of the time, I was dizzy, my face turned pale white and I wanted to pass out at the end. Thats NOT SMART!

Now some of you might be saying NO PROBLEM! There is no way in hell I’ll push myself to pass out in a workout and you’ll come into the workout at a level 1, just wanting to make it through, you’ll get through it, you’ll sweat and you’ll leave thinking ah not so bad I could’ve maybe gone faster. NO! What a waste of time! You underpaced and didn’t get to the poiunt where you challenged yourself or your abilities. You don’t grow like that! Both physically and mentally you missed out on a opportunity to get better and become a better person.

The magic happens at level 5. Level 5 is what makes my wife one of my favorite CrossFitters to watch. Rachael always has level 5 (which at some points can frustrate me when I think she needs to push it up a bit 🙂) Rach competed at the 2014 Regionals for CrossFit in Canada East. There was a 50’s workout that was a there and back chipper of 50 Deadlifts,50 Box Jump Overs,50 Wallballs, 50 ring dips, 50 wallballs, 50 Box Jump overs, 50 Deadlifts. She came out at a level 5 with almost everyone in her heat a head of her after the deads. Through each movement she slowly passed everyone in her heat byt the time she got to the ring dips she was in the lead and then was pumping out ring dips like a joke, she was going so fast that Head Judge Jason McDonald (former UFC middleweight) was only focusing on her (she had 2 judges watch all her ring dips) I was ready to fight Jason (not a smart idea) but she didn’t get no repped once. She kept her 5, destroyed the heat and came top 10 in all of Canada on that workout! 

Find your level 5! If you r a level 10 calm yourself, learn to breathe, have your coach keep you settled. If your a level 1 get excited, listen to some heavy music, have someone slap you around a little.  Level 5 is where you will shine and reach your true Potential, where you will be moving and not feeling but in the moment of true competition, this is where you need to be.

Tomorrow night find your 5, if you need to talk to be about it please reach out, I’m here as your Coach and friend and want nothing more than to see you succeed!